Judge Barbier Sets Schedule For Trials

The trial to assign blame and damages for the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill has been set for January 14, 2013 by Judge Carl Barbier. Thus far well over 350 witnesses have been deposed and about 100 million pages of documents have been produced by Defendants in the case. This litigation is moving at a rapid pace and that’s a good thing. The January trial will be in two phases – one dealing with causation and the second addressing post-spill activities and efforts to stop the flow of oil.

Other companies in the case are Transocean, Halliburton, Anadarko Petroleum Corp., which owned 25% of the Macondo well; Cameron International Corp., which made a blowout preventer, and Schlumberger NV’s M-I Swaco venture, which provided mud services. All have settled with BP. Mitsui & Co’s MOEX USA unit, which owned 10% of the well, has also settled with BP, and in February agreed to pay $90 million to settle with the federal government.